


Oh, What a Circus

by LeotheLionathefootofOrion



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alcohol, Assassination, Circus, Love Declarations, M/M, Magician Hisoka, Making Out, Set in Canon but also at a circus, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, brief death mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:26:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26071867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeotheLionathefootofOrion/pseuds/LeotheLionathefootofOrion
Summary: Illumi has an assassination job to do. It just so happens that Hisoka is performing at the local circus as a favour to an acquaintance. Alcohol, honesty and attraction ensues with very pleasant results.Just a magician and a killing machine in love. What more is there to say?
Relationships: Hisoka/Illumi Zoldyck
Comments: 12
Kudos: 206





	Oh, What a Circus

Illumi should have known, on reflection. He should have guessed from the very start. But he had hoped that just for once his life would go smoothly, for a little while. He needed the peace and quiet. A week on the outer reaches of the Yorbian continent, stalking his victim. The job had been easy so far but he should have known better, the moment he saw that the circus was in town. But he didn’t. He simply stalked his target and made plans to fulfil the assassination. The circus seemed to provide nothing but the perfect opportunity: he could easily arrange some accident among the chaos of the travelling troupe. He could make a perfectly clean job of it. 

His target was a businessman with a knack for stealing intellectual property - a nen genius with an ability not so very far away from Chrollo Lucilfer’s. Five different clients wanted him dead and they were paying Illumi good money to do the job. It was far from a difficult operation. He lay in wait and observed his target to be sure there was nothing about him that could prove difficult. Illumi had a small, comfortable room in the attic of the town’s boarding house. From the window he could see the sea, as well as the garish reds and pinks which lit up the Big Top at the edge of town. Illumi had never been to a circus before. 

On the evening before his scheduled killing, Illumi quietly began to explore the area around the Big Top. The tent itself was a reddish pink colour with white stripes, like candy. Around it, antique caravans and smaller tents were stationed. Performers dodged in and out, between rehearsals and chores. A small fire was burning and the smell of hot food drifted out. Illumi was concealing his presence carefully: there was no reason for him to worry. He doubted he would meet anyone who could possibly be a threat. He was free to explore in peace and solitude - or so he thought.

He approached the largest caravan, which was painted in colours of red and gold. He could hear voices drifting out of the open door and he listened out of habit. 

“I really don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t agreed to come. I would have had to cancel the tour entirely and I’m sure the other performers would have killed me. It hasn’t been an easy winter for us. You don’t know what a great favour this really is, Hisoka-sama.”

Illumi froze in place and nearly lost track of his nen altogether. He was sure that he had heard the voice correctly. Illumi was rarely, if ever, wrong. He strained his ears to listen again - after all, Hisoka wasn’t an uncommon name.

“Madeline, my dearest. You don’t have to thank me! I needed an excuse to be out of the city. I’m beginning to think that the mafia don’t enjoy my little games.” Illumi felt his heart sink and he resisted the urge to bury his face in his hand. The voice, so unfortunately familiar, only continued. “I’m afraid I am rather out of practice. You’ll have to forgive me if I stumble at all.”

Illumi slumped silently against the side of the caravan, half listening to the rest of the conversation. There was no doubting that the Hisoka inside for his Hisoka (not his exactly but well. Illumi didn’t know how else to put it). He’d know that voice in the deepest pit of hell. Why Hisoka had to be here, now, Illumi wasn’t sure. He was fairly sure that some higher power was conspiring against him. He briefly considered that he was, in fact, in hell. It would at least make sense.

He watched as a young woman in bright red layered skirts finally left the caravan. Illumi held his breath, but he needn’t have worried. The woman remained blissfully unaware of his presence. Unfortunately, Illumi was well aware that she wasn’t the one he was really concealing himself from. Hisoka had a remarkable skill for sensing things that he shouldn’t, as long as he wasn’t otherwise distracted. Illumi cringed inwardly. There was no way he could make it away without Hisoka noticing.

“You know the usual procedure is actually to come into the caravan to visit the performer, if you’re such a fan. Skulking around in the shadows won’t get you anything. Not even an autograph. Come on, Illu. Don’t be shy.” Hisoka sing-songed from inside. Illumi pulled out a handful of pins and dropped his aura. He wished, bitterly, that he’d taken up a mission in Azia instead.

He spotted Hisoka as he mounted up the caravan steps. The magician was sitting straight-backed in a chair, applying his makeup in front of the mirror. He gave Illumi’s own reflection a smile and a wink. The usual star and teardrop were already in place on his cheeks. He looked fresh-faced and cheerful. The sea air seemed to be doing wonders for his skin - his exposed biceps were almost glowing and his neck had a delicate tan which worked beautifully with his silver-lined costume. Illumi swallowed hard and folded his arms. Hisoka had no business being so attractive. It made him a thousand times more difficult to deal with.

“What,” He said, trying to measure his voice carefully - “are you doing here, Hisoka?” The caravan smelt faintly of bubblegum. Illumi resisted the urge to inhale.

Hisoka turned in his chair, leaning his arms over the back and grinning like he’d just won the lottery. Illumi had rarely seen him smile so genuinely, even when fighting.

“I’m performing, as you can clearly see. I’ve been hired by the lovely Madame Madeline - we knew each other as children, or rather, when she was a child and I was a wild young teen. Her most popular act dropped out at the last moment and I am her replacement. A lovely surprise for the audience, don’t you think? The Grim Reaper back in his old territory.”

Illumi ran his fingers over his pins and seriously considered killing (or at least permanently disabling) Hisoka there and then. He decided against it. Hisoka had the advantage on him in short range combat. If his muscles were anything to go by, he appeared to be stronger than ever.

“I have a job, too.” He said finally. “I hope we will be able to fulfil our obligations without getting in each other’s way. I won’t cause you any trouble and I would strongly suggest that you keep your distance and refrain from interfering with me.”

Hisoka pouted. “But I like interfering. And how am I supposed to take you for drinks if we keep our distance from each other? You’re very mean, Illumi Zoldyck. Teasing me with your presence and denying me a treat.”

Illumi hesitated for a hair’s breath. “Will you promise not to bother me while I work, if I allow you to buy me a drink?” He asked. Before he could stop himself. Hisoka brightened immediately and extended his hand towards Illumi, with his pinky finger poking out.

“Oh, I promise! Come on Illu. Let’s paint the town red and celebrate my grand return to the circus ring!”

Illumi wrinkled his nose and briefly allowed his own pinky finger to make contact with Hisoka’s. “Very well. Since we have been associates for a long time, I trust that you will honour your promise.” He straightened up and stepped back while Hisoka put away his makeup supplies. Inspecting the rest of the caravan, Illumi took in the cozy corner-bed and the nooks and crannies of storage space. Although Hisoka had to bend himself almost in half to navigate the space, he did so cleanly and with the air of someone who belonged. Illumi knew scanty details of Hisoka’s past but he knew for sure that he had lived for a long time in this kind of place. He wondered why it gave Hisoka such obvious pleasure to come back.

Hisoka twirled around lightly in the cramped space. “What do you think of this outfit? I’m debuting it properly tomorrow night but I would like to know your opinion. I thought gold might be just a bit too much, so I went for silver with the black.”

Illumi looked at the star-light material on its dark background. Hisoka’s body became the night sky in those clothes. The pink of his hair should have clashed but it did the opposite. Illumi felt like he was looking at some kind of ethereal sky God. Naturally, he didn’t say so.

“You look ridiculous as always, but I suppose I’ve seen you look worse. I am not totally ashamed to be see in your company.” He tossed his hair and watched Hisoka laugh and jump lightly down the caravan steps.

“From you, that’s practically a compliment. Come on, Illu. All this talking and rehearsing has me parched. Let’s find somewhere to drink.” Hisoka turned expectantly with his hand outstretched as though he thought that Illumi would take it. It was a strange gesture. Illumi reminded himself wryly that Hisoka was nothing if not strange. He ignored the hand and stepped ahead of Hisoka to stride past the Big Top. He didn’t miss the way the magician pouted as he skipped along to follow. He pretended that he wasn’t smiling slightly to himself.

The barkeep kept passing nervous glances at them. It was well past closing time but he clearly didn’t dare to mention the fact. It took a lot of alcohol for Illumi to even feel a buzz - his immunity to poison extended as far as dry martinis. The stack of empty on the glasses on the bar stood testament to that. A warm feeling was just managing to spread its way out of his stomach and he calculated that with a few more units of alcohol he might actually feel a little bit tipsy.

Hisoka was very, very drunk, and had been for a while. Illumi had cut him off when he started falling off his bar stool, and he hadn’t complained. He didn’t even try to get his hands on another drink, simply slumped across the bar and watched Illumi with dreamy yellow eyes.

“You have the loveliest hair, Illu-chan.” He giggled softly and reached out to touch. His fingers missed their mark by several inches and he looked extremely disappointed. “So straight and sooooooft.”

Hisoka’s own hair was something of a mess, hanging in curly strands over his forehead and ears. It suited him to a certain extent. Illumi swallowed another mouthful of his drink and reached across to rub at the smudged makeup on Hisoka’s cheek. The pink, glittery substance stuck to his fingers as Hisoka insisted on rubbing his whole face into Illumi’s hand. With the makeup almost gone he looked rather different, the sharp lines of his face just a little bit softer.

“What made you come back to the circus. Apart from the fact that the entire mafia want you dead and have put an extensive reward out for your death?” Illumi asked. The barkeep poured him another drink and scuttled away.

Hisoka waved his hand messily. “I could take down the whole mafia without- without opening my eyes.” He closed his eyes as if to demonstrate and seemed to forget to open them again. “Came here because I am a very, very sad man. Very lonely underneath all this.” His hand waved again in the general direction of his own body. “Very sad man, Illumi Zoldyck. Sometimes even killing doesn’t make me happy.”

“Nothing makes you happy. You’re a psychopath.” Illumi tipped his head back. He could feel the alcohol in his bloodstream at long last. It was such a foreign feeling, but so good.

“Not true.” Hisoka opened his eyes again and pointed at Illumi. “Psychopath? Yes. Happy? Sometimes.” He shifted forward on his stool, dangerously close to tipping himself over. “You make me happy. With your hair and your eyes and your needles. Brutal killing machine, beautiful doll...” He smiled hazily. “You are just about perfect, Illumi. I could watch you forever and be happy.”

Illumi felt his breath hitch. His lips were dangerously close to Hisoka’s own. He could hear both of their heartbeats racing. Hisoka’s half lidded eyes were quite possibly the most erotic thing he had ever seen - he urgently repressed the need to get desperately and wantonly hard.

“Excuse me, sirs? I-I really am sorry but I will have to ask you to leave - as grateful as we are for you patronage! It is almost dawn and I have to clean up...” The barkeep bit his lip hard enough to bleed as Illumi turned and fixed him with a stare. Slowly, he pulled out his wallet and deposited several Jenny notes on the bar-top. The barkeep stopped quaking and scooped up the money before anyone could change their mind.

Illumi wasn’t quite sure how he managed to haul Hisoka up and over his shoulder. His state of drunkenness had developed and he had dissolved into complete nonsense - mumbling and drooling onto Illumi’s clothes. Dawn broke slowly as Illumi made his way purposefully by the seafront and into the circle of caravans. Hisoka was a dead weight but Illumi had carried far heavier burdens. He only hoped that no one else was awake to view the spectacle.

He deposited Hisoka into his tiny corner bed, in his red and gold caravan with its soft wood-chip scent. Hisoka looked up at him dreamily, appearing very far away and about 10 years younger. Illumi smoothed down the blankets as he had once done for his siblings.

“See you tomorrow Illu.” Hisoka mumbled, struggling to form the words with his soft, sleepy lips. Illumi smiled simply because there was no one there to see him, and left the caravan silently. He was afraid that if he stayed longer he might do something foolish. Like kissing those pink, drunken lips. He had a job to focus on, after all.

Later in the morning, Illumi ate breakfast overlooking the ocean. When he was finished, he began to quietly stalk his target around the town. Only a few hours remained before Illumi intended to kill him - he only had one simple task, to plant a needle somewhere on the man’s body. It would be easy enough. Illumi’s mind had time to drift as he worked, which was a rare luxury. He thought deeply about the things Hisoka had said the night before. Sad words, words that Illumi hadn’t expected to hear. He had never imagined that he could possibly make anyone happy - even Hisoka.

He wondered how the famed magician was dealing with his hangover, and smothered a smile. He couldn’t quite get the image of Hisoka in his soft, messy and drunken state out of his mind.

He changed his clothes before walking down the Big Top. A silky sea green top with flowing sleeves and velveteen black pants. The outfit gave him the opportunity to hide his needles and looking attractive always had its advantages. With a few subtle glances his was able to secure the seat in the Big Top, directly behind his target. A needle slipped easily into the meat of his shoulder, and Illumi had nothing to do but wait for the show to be over. He would use his manipulation to control and kill the man later.

He focused his attention on the round stage. The lights were soft and beautiful and a soft layer of glitter covered the floor. Although the air inside the tent was hot and humid, Illumi felt comfortable with smell of candy and stage makeup. 

As the show began he recognised the ring master as Madame Madeline: Hisoka’s childhood acquaintance. She looked striking in her red costume and her stage presence was both amusing and engaging. Despite the fact that he wasn’t there for entertainment, Illumi began to enjoy himself. He noted that some of the acts were based in nen, and some were. He watched the appearance of nen-beasts and feats of physical courage and strength, and he couldn’t help but admire each performer.

And then Hisoka slipped onto the stage, lithe as a cat and alive with energy. He swirled around in a flurry of cards and sparks while the audience exploded with applause. Hisoka was famous, even on the outer reaches on the continent. Illumi clapped politely and pointedly ignored the fact that Hisoka was most definitely looking directly at him. The silver outfit suited him even more perfectly under the lights. If he had been handsome before, now he was beautiful. Illumi wiggled down in his seat and focused on the needle resting in his target’s shoulder. It was no time to be getting distracted.

Hisoka’s performance was peppered with music and his own soft, sexually charged orations. The audience seemed entranced by every trick and innuendo. When Illumi dared to let his eyes flicker to the stage his mind was flooded with the image of Hisoka in the position of a back-bend. A house of cards sat delicately balanced on his stomach. It should have been ridiculous, and yet it was hypnotic. Hisoka lifted his arm to place each card with a kind of easy grace which belied the evident strain his body was facing. Illumi squirmed - somehow, across the ring, Hisoka caught his eye. It was like looking into the sun.

Hisoka performed an easy backflip and the cards flew into the air, settling in a pattern to hover around his head. Wreathed in the halo he bowed deeply. The audience roared their appreciation. Illumi had to admit that Hisoka truly did belong here, even more than he belonged at Heaven’s Arena. There was no blood and no corpses but the atmosphere was pure Hisoka: charged with electricity and life. He even had the audacity to wink at Illumi from across the stage.

The finale came and went, and Illumi crossed his legs and waited for his fellow spectators to file out of the tent. Only when the place was empty did he stand up. His target, compelled by the needle stuck in his shoulder, stood too and walked woodenly out of the opening. Illumi followed from a distance, around the back of the tent and into the shadows created by fabric and crates, material for the assembly of the circus. Something under his skin itched after Hisoka’s performance. He hated to admit it but he felt alive after a few moments in the magician’s company. Hisoka made him happy, that was the unavoidable truth.

He sighed and stepped forward. His target turned around like a robot, slack jawed. In less than five seconds, Illumi had three needles buried in the man’s body. Each was aimed to kill. Each hit its mark with a terrifying accuracy and the man found himself dead three times over.

“Far too cleanly done for me taste. One might even say rather dull. But I can’t deny that seeing you toss those needles... makes me rather weak at the knees.” Hisoka slipped out of a shadow and leaned up against one of the tall crates. “I hope you realise that I’m going to get the blame for this? I do have something of a reputation... when they find him I’ll be run out of town.”

Illumi plucked his needles from the corpse and polished them on his sleeve. There was barely a speck of blood. “They’ll think he fell over drunk and killed himself by accident. This is hardly in your style, Hisoka. And if you came here to lay low I don’t see that you’re doing a very good job of it.” 

Hisoka grinned and stepped over the body, right into Illumi’s space. “I’m afraid you’re right. I never can manage to stay out of the limelight. You see, I crave attention. Attention from one person in particular, and when I don’t get it... well, I have to expose myself to the public in order to make up for it.” He raised an eyebrow, emphasising the double-entendres of his statement. Illumi huffed out something akin to a laugh.

“You go on murderous, sexually deviant rampages because you are starved of my attention?” He raised his eyebrows. “Imagine the lives I could have saved if I replied to your texts once in a while.”

Hisoka threw back his head and laughed, long and loud. “Oh Illumi. The things you do to me. How on earth do I manage to live without you by my side?” He stepped forward again, pushing his nose right up against Illumi’s. His large hands slipped to his shoulders and held there, gripping lightly. It was a pleasant kind of touch. “Do I make you happy?” He asked softly. His breath tasted faintly of bubblegum, Illumi could feel it close enough to consume.

“Yes.” Illumi said quietly, truthfully. “You shouldn’t. But you do. And I shouldn’t - well. I shouldn’t let you. But I want to.”

He tasted the bubblegum in its fullest flavour then. Hisoka kissed him gently, like his lips were made of porcelain. It felt so good to treated as something breakable. His hands gripped at Hisoka’s biceps until he felt bone begin to creak. Hisoka didn’t moan or sigh. He simply brought Illumi closer in his arms and held on like letting go wasn’t an option.

“I thought you might care about me, but I never knew for sure until you carried me off to bed and tucked me in like a child. In all my life I have never known such care.” Hisoka murmured close to Illumi’s ear. “I knew you wanted me when you watched me tonight. You seemed to wake up.”

“I did wake up.” Illumi admitted. He was faintly aware of the corpse lying at their feet. It seemed a fitting place for a love declaration - for him and Hisoka, at least. “If you weren’t you, I would have killed you long before now.” He drew back a few inches to find the warmth of Hisoka’s eyes. “You are so annoying.”

Hisoka kissed him between the eyes. “Only for you, baby-doll. Now, since you’re finished working, why don’t we go back to my caravan for the rest of this conversation? I would have invited you to stay last night but I know how fastidious you are about your jobs.”

Illumi let Hisoka pull him close as they walked towards the caravan. “Not to mention the fact that you couldn’t form a proper sentence, you were so intoxicated.”

Hisoka slipped up the caravan steps and offered Illumi his hand. This time, Illumi took it and allowed himself to be tugged inside. Hisoka fell backwards onto the bed with the same grace he had shown on stage, and caught Illumi with his whole body. They lay chest to chest as Hisoka pressed a line of kisses from the edge of Illumi’s mouth and up towards his ear.

“Shall I tell you a secret, my love? My dear, sweet killer-doll?” He whispered. His tongue did something strange and warm to Illumi’s earlobe, sucking and licking all at once. Illumi struggled with himself for a while, looking for a satisfactory reply. He ended up nodding his head and clutching at Hisoka’s shoulders.

Hisoka brought a hand up and tangled it in Illumi’s hair, lips never moving away from his ear. He kissed in all sorts of sensitive places before speaking again. Illumi was ashamed to admit that he was squirming.

“Now you have to promise not to get too cross with me, even though I am a terribly naughty boy, but here’s the thing...” Hisoka’s thighs came up and wrapped around Illumi, effectively keeping him in place. “I wasn’t really drunk at all. I was pretending, you see. Because I really do want you terribly and I really am shy... And I didn’t want to pay for the drinks.”

Whatever he had planned to say next was abruptly shut off by two of Illumi’s needles and a kiss that left him so starved of oxygen he appeared to turn blue. But the grin on his face said that everything was worth it.

And the slight twitch of Illumi’s lips said that he was forgiven.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are so, so valued. I can’t even tell you how much they mean.
> 
> Also I’m sorry if this isn’t too well edited! I’m tired!


End file.
